City store to be a ‘Lidl of the future’

THE plans by discount supermarket chain Lidl to demolish one of its Cardiff stores before rebuilding it on the same site have been approved.

The German company wants its branch in Colchester Avenue, close to its junction with Newport Road, to be a more modern building.

The supermarket plans to increase the number of car parking spaces by 17, while the amount of floorspace for selling groceries would increase by 25%.

Lidl has acquired the neighbouring site – the former HSS Hire tool store – to allow it to expand.

On its website, Lidl says its proposals would help provide and safeguard dozens of jobs, while the larger store would not feature a bigger range of products – but would give customers “much more room to manoeuvre”.

There will also be self-service checkouts in what the multi-national company dubs one of its “Lidl of the future” stores.

Cardiff council announced yesterday that permission for the demolition and rebuilding work had been granted subject to a number of conditions.

Lidl UK’s regional head of property Paul Hebblethwaite said: “We could not be more delighted to have received planning permission, and look forward to getting started on construction.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the local community for their continued support and very much look forward to opening our doors and offering our fresh, quality, great value products in the not too distant future.”

Lidl said in a retail statement submitted as part of the application last autumn: “Reconfiguration and modernisation will allow more flexibility with merchandising and a brighter store with more room for customers to manoeuvre, thereby improving their overall shopping experience.

“The application will allow products to be stocked in greater depth (i.e. more of the same product will be stocked in the new store), ensuring that customers are more likely to find what they need in a single visit, reducing the need for repeat visits and ensuring that Lidl is better able to satisfy the needs of its customers.”

Lidl opened its new East Tyndall Street store in Splott in December last year.

It also has stores in Cathays, Llandaff North, Ely, Leckwith Road, Birchgrove and Pentwyn. Low-cost rival Aldi has three Cardiff stores.